Saturday, February 28, 2015

The issue of marriage equality in South Carolina has been settled at least for now. Barring a different decision from the Supreme Court later this year, gay and lesbian South Carolinians fairly won the right to marry. And that should be the end of that.

However, don't break the news to the sparse group of folks who assembled earlier today at the State House. They assembled in support of a bill which they hope would stop marriage equality, no matter what the courts say. The bill, proposed by SC State Rep. Bill Chumley, would defund gay marriage in the state and punish state employees who issue or recognize same-sex marriage licenses

Their argument, which was repeated continuously by various speakers from the stage, including Chumley and State Sen. Lee Bright, was that the federal government was overstepping its bounds and interfering with the sovereignty of South Carolinians who voted overwhelmingly to ban marriage equality in 2006.

What the crowd, made mostly of elderly South Carolinians, lacked in numbers, they made up for greatly in enthusiasm, particularly when speakers talked about an "over-reaching" federal government.

Friday, February 27, 2015

FRC's ridiculously bunk new poll (*from partisan polling firm)- The Family Research Council pushes a transparently deceptive poll on religious liberty. Whatever happened to the good old days when fraud and chicanery had a certain style. Now I know there are some folks on my side who want to be nonchalant and jaded over this. I wouldn't recommend it. Any time we can catch FRC in a lie and publicize it, it is another chop in its tree of credibility. Besides, one day I will relate to you the days when there was no one exposing FRC lies. It was NOT a good time. Be thankful for those of us willing to jump into the breach.

For years, the Family Research Council was one of the many anti-gay groups who relied on the work of discredited researcher Paul Cameron, a man who had been criticized for poor techniques methodologies, as well as dismissed or censured from organization such as the American Psychological Association, the American Sociological Association, and the Canadian Psychological Association

FRC and other anti-gay groups used his bad research to prove negative theories about the lgbt community However, when Cameron was exposed for being the fraud that he is, FRC and other anti-gay groups slyly distanced themselves from his work.

According to a recent email I received from the organization, however, FRC may have found another discredited researcher it can use:

Yesterday, respected University of Texas professor Dr. Mark Regnerus
spoke at FRC about "Stability and Change in Americans' Relationships."
His presentation was based on an exhaustive survey he conducted of more
than 15,700 people from every background and walk of life. The survey's
findings showed some change in Americans' attitudes towards marriage,
cohabitation, and homosexuality, but one of the most striking findings
is that only 42 percent of the American people support same-sex
marriage, a percentage that roughly mirrors FRC's survey, released
earlier this week, showing that 53 percent of people agree that marriage should be defined only as a union between one man and one woman.

Despite the sexual revolution of the past several decades, less than
half (44 percent) of Americans believe cohabitation before marriage is a
good thing. And as to infidelity, a whopping 74 percent say adultery is
never acceptable. Dr. Regnerus noted that "so much is up for grabs" but
made clear that religious commitment and the strength of one's family
"track together."

"Marriage is not considered outdated," Dr. Regnerus observed, and
"people regard marriage as concerning children." As the Supreme Court
ponders same-sex "marriage" later this year, let's hope and pray their
listening to those they have been appointed to represent -- the American
people -- when it comes to redefining an institution still held in high
regard throughout our society.

Regnerus is NOT respected. He is the author of a 2012 badly done, much rebuked, disputed, and discredited negative study on same-sex parenting.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

As witnessed by these posters, anti-gay groups can change talking points quickly.

When it comes to the case of Barronelle Stutzman, the Washington State florist who was found guilty of breaking that state's anti-discrimination laws by refusing to serve a same-sex couple, anti-gay groups had to play a quick game of message switching.

At first, she was portrayed as a Christian grandmother who was in danger of losing her home, business, and life-savings supposedly because she was "standing up her her values" against evil government officials and lgbts attempting to "make" her "participate" in marriage equality.

However, when the news came down that she actually refused to accept a settlement from Washington State's attorney general of $2001, quicker than Diana Prince would change into Wonder Woman on the 1970s television show, anti-gay groups suddenly transformed her into a person who would not sell out her values even if this could possibly, but really not proven as would, cause her to lose her life savings, business, and homes.

That's not to say though that one particular anti-gay group isn't brazen enough to push both talking points at the same time.

This afternoon, I received an email from the anti-gay American Family Association:

Barronelle Stutzman has rejected a deal by Washington state Attorney
General Bob Ferguson that would have forced her to betray her religious
beliefs and start providing flowers for gay weddings.

"You are
asking me to walk in the way of a well-known betrayer, one who sold
something of infinite worth for 30 pieces of silver," Stutzman wrote in a
letter to Ferguson. "That is something I will not do."

. . . Feeling the heat from the Christian community, Ferguson had offered to
settle the case if she paid a $2,000 penalty for violating the Consumer
Protection Act, a $1 payment for costs and fees, and agreed not to
discriminate in the future.

First of all, the claim that Ferguson was "feeling the heat from the Christian community" and offered to settle because of it is a lie.

Gay Marriage Opponents To Rally - Now you just KNOW that South Carolina wasn't going to be left out of this wildness. Folks will be assembling at the State House this weekend to push support for "protection of marriage bills" in my state. Barring the weather, I will be there taking pictures. As for the possible success of these bills, I have tremendous faith in the statewide organization, SC Equality, in its efforts to stand for our community. The organization is hard at work even as I speak.

American Family Association proclaims the Carolinas a safe, queer-free zone - According to the American Family Association's 'bigotry map,' the Carolinas (North and South) have no lgbt groups at all. Now we all know this isn't true on so many levels. On one hand, I am incredibly insulted. However, on the other, the James Bond villain in me is thrilled that our secret homosexual organization dedicated to bringing down America and having Judy Garland's birthday declared a national holiday hasn't been detected yet. This means (fake European villain accent) "no one has made me cross enough to feed them to my piranha fish."

. . . the fight over gay rights continues in conservative
corners of the country, where legislators are advancing laws that would,
intentionally or not, ensure that gay people can be refused service,
fired or evicted simply for being gay.

There are no
national laws protecting against these forms of discrimination, so the
matter has been left up to individual communities. A growing list of
cities, for instance, are passing gay anti-discrimination ordinances, which has raised the ire of their more conservative state houses.In this year’s legislative session, similar bills in several states are striking back against gay rights.The
proposed state laws fall into two categories.

Some are
anti-anti-discrimination measures that would prevent a state’s cities or
counties from creating protections for gay people. . . . In another, more classic category are laws that would protect people who
discriminate against gay people on religious grounds. There has been
tremendous legal murkiness concerning when and in which contexts
religious rights trump gay rights. These religious freedom bills would
have religious rights triumph, always.

Those who want to celebrate thinking that the lgbt community is about to win marriage equality need to get off their asses. As one war ends, another begins. So it shall be if the religious right and their allies have anything to say about it.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Fox News Rallies Behind Florist Who Refused To Serve Gay Couple - I wish the anti-gay industry would make up their minds when it comes to this mess. First they portrayed this woman as in danger of losing her home, business, and life savings because lgbt folks are suing her. And now when it comes out that she refused a settlement of $2001 (one dollar to pay for court costs), suddenly they shift the situation to her being a hero for her supposed values.

Indiana Senate passes ‘religious freedom’ bill - This just in . . . and it ain't pretty. With the situation in Arkansas, then here and several other places, folks are asking what are organizations like ACLU or HRC doing to fight this. I understand the need to not reveal battle plans, but y'all, we really need some type of assurances that we aren't sitting ducks here.

'Walking Dead' Fans Upset Over Gay Kiss, Tweet Homophobic Comments - So let me get this right - in a show about a post-apocalyptic world where humans are fighting zombies (and not the 'Scooby-Doo' type but the hungry, fast, cannibalistic type made famous by George Romero and Lucio Fulci), folks are angry because two male characters kissed? ARE YOU $#@!&!; KIDDING ME?!!!!!

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

A while back, the American Family Association claimed that it had a huge project in the works. I have a feeling that the following is the project:

According to the AFA:

The American Family Association has identified over 200 groups and
organizations that openly display bigotry toward the Christian faith.

The website www.afa.net/bigotrymap
includes an interactive map that identifies groups whose actions are
deeply intolerant of the Christian religion. Their actions have endorsed
efforts to silence Christians and to remove all public displays of
Christian heritage and faith in America.

A common practice of
these groups is threatening our nation’s schools, cities and states. By
threat of lawsuit, they demand that prayer be removed from schools and
city council meetings, Ten Commandments monuments stricken from courthouses
and memorial crosses purged from cemeteries and parks.

Because
of anti-Christian bigotry, private business owners have been sued and
forced to close their businesses. Families and businesses that express a
Christian worldview on social issues often face vicious retaliation
from anti-Christian zealots.

Some members or supporters of these
groups have committed violent crimes against Christians and faith-based
groups. Physical and profane verbal assaults against Christians are
methods frequently exercised in their angry methods of intimidation.

Monday, February 23, 2015

Generally when I showcase anti-gay figures and their comments, I always provide some expository. However, the following comment by marriage equality opponent Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is so mind-blowingly stupid that it can stand on its own.when it comes to illustrating the basic ignorance of many of those who oppose marriage equality and lgbt equality in general:

"You're taking any definition of a family away. When two bisexuals or two
transgendered marry, how large is that family? Can they marry two
persons, one of the same sex and one of the opposite sex? Then, you've
got a family of four or how many?" - Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore

Has the Anti-Gay Right Found Its Gay 'Partial Birth Abortion'? - This excellent piece by Michelangelo Signorile inspired today's morning post. He makes the point while the lgbt community is taking it for granted that we may receive nationwide marriage equality, anti-gay groups are meticulously planning to create a long-term war of attrition via "religious liberty" bills. Our community simply has to stop taking these anti-groups lightly and get on the offensive rather than the defensive. If we get caught "napping" this time, we have no one to blame but ourselves.

Faced with the reality that they may actually lose the fight against marriage equality, anti-gay groups, as they are skilled at doing, are switching tactics to fight gay equality.

After decades of claiming that homosexuality is a public health menace which encompasses pedophilia, disease, and all-around negative behavior, they are suddenly shifting the conversation to the idea that Christians and evangelicals like themselves are now seeing their rights infringed upon by a world which is becoming more lgbt-inclusive.

Instead of relying on information such as FBI statistics, because such statistics contradict their claims, anti-gay groups are relying on anecdotes and FOAF (friend of a friend) stories which are for the most part are conjured up by either themselves or members of the media friendly to their point of view.

Such as Fox News personality Todd Starnes.

Since starting with Fox News a few years back, Starnes, a conservative author, commentator, and author, has made a name for himself by supposedly uncovering evidence of anti-Christian bias in various places. Subsequently, his articles and columns not only attract a large following but are also used by anti-gay organizations such as the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, and other various groups who claim that the goal of lgbt equality is to suppress Christianity.

According to the site Equality Matters, Starnes serves as a willing mouthpiece to these groups; i.e. their conduit to the mainstream press when it comes to pushing their anecdotes of anti-Christian bias.

Starnes himself has made viciously untrue comments about lgbts such as:

Starnes also has a reputation as a sloppy reporter whose personal biases causes him to either embellish or omit details in his articles and columns; details which contradict his overriding claim of anti-Christian persecution.

And this wouldn't be the first time he has gotten into trouble for sloppy journalism. In 2003, Starnes was fired by the Baptist Press for what seemed to be a deliberate misrepresentation of quotes by then U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige. Apparently, what Starnes did was so bad that before the truth was discovered, several civil rights groups and members of Congress were demanding Paige's resignation.

Since that time, Starnes has been the stirring stick of several controversies which go beyond the Paige controversy.

Below is a short summary of a few of the controversies Starnes has created. Accompanying these controversies are the facts which he either omitted or didn't investigate further to discover. Not all of these controversies involve claims of gays supposedly persecuting Christians, but they all weave the false theme of anti-Christian bias. And we all know that when there are false themes of anti-Christian bias, sooner or later, these themes filter down to fingers being pointed at the lgbt community.

April 2013:

1. Starnes spin - The United States Military was deliberately blocking access to the official website of the Southern Baptist Convention because of anti-Christian bias.

Truth - The website was blocked because of virus issues. This was confirmed by the Baptist Press, the news source of the Southern Baptist Convention.

2. Starnes spin - The United States Military will begin court marshaling Christians in an effort to kick them out of the service

Truth - "As Warren Throckmorton points out, the Defense Department guidelines on proselytizing and religious bias that has so enraged Starnes and others was actually put in place in 2008 during the Bush administration and the language clearly “draws a distinction between simply speaking about one’s faith and coercion.”

"Throckmorton also notes that Starnes twisted a statement from a Pentagon spokesman “to make it seem as though the outcome of religious proselytizing cases would be court martial.” '

Starnes spin - A San Antonio non-discrimination ordinance will bar all Christians from serving in public office, discriminate against folks for having prior anti-gay beliefs, and will "force churches to allow transgender bathrooms."

Truth - Equality Matters refuted every one of those claims. The site called the last claim regarding churches a boldfaced lie.

December 2013:

Starnes spin - Veterans Administrations Hospitals in two states (Texas, Georgia) refuses to accept Christmas cards made by children in a show of anti-Christian bias

Last week, Todd Starnes at FOX News published two articles on
anti-Christian discrimination at Veterans Administrations hospitals this
Christmas season. In both reports, Starnes lies and tactfully omits
facts in order to deceive his audience, creating the impression that the
government is at war with Christmas. . . .

. . . Starnes’s wide influence on evangelicals is alarming because he consistently deceives and manipulates facts in order to exaggerate or fabricate incidences of Christian persecution. These reports influence a great deal of people who often respond with hatred, anger, and disgust out of ignorance.

Jan. 2014:

Starnes spin - A first grader was prohibited by her teacher from talking about how her family puts the Star of Bethlehem on top of their Christmas tree. Her teacher then told her to stop talking about the Bible in class

Truth - The school and the teacher involved published a public statement denying the incident. The student was taking too long in her presentation. The teacher helped her through it but then cut it short because there were other students who had to do their presentations. At no time did the teacher tell the student to stop talking about the Bible in class or that no one is allowed to discuss the Bible in class.From Right Wing Watch.

April 2014:

1. Starnes spin - As part of a lgbt-inclusive anti-bullying workshop at Linden Avenue Middle School in New York, two female students were forced to kiss each other.and male students were told to carry condoms in their pockets

Truth - The school district investigated and issued a statement that neither of these incidents took place

2. Starnes spin - A kindergarten student in Florida was told that she could not pray before eating her lunch.

Truth - The school investigated and could find no evidence that the incident took place. An interesting addendum to this controversy was that the child in question was the daughter of Marco Perez. Perez is the vice president of sales of a Christian publishing house (Charisma House) which published Starnes's recent book on - what else - anti-Christian persecution.

Starnes spin - An church in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho was being forced to marry a gay couple.

Truth - The "church" in question, The Hitching Post, was not a church but a "for-profit" business which also offered secular weddings. In fact, city never even took legal action against it.

From Equality Matters (Equality Matters pointed out that other anti-gay organizations and blogs pushed the story but that Starnes was the first who sounded the phony panic alarm)

February 2015:

1. Starnes spin - An Oregon bakery which refused to bake a cake for a same-sex couple could face a fine of up to $200,000

Truth - “Todd Starnes is writing that the bakery owners face fines of up to
$200,000 in damages. That’s false,” said Charlie Burr, (Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries)
communications director. “In fact, it’s the Kleins who have asked for
$200,000 in damages from our agency for our enforcement of the Equality
Act.”

At a time in which journalistic honesty is being scrutinized because of controversies involving NBC's Brian Williams and Starnes's colleague at Fox News, Bill O'Reilly, it is amazing that Starnes has gotten away with so many incidents of sloppy journalism and deliberate embellishment of facts
Starnes doesn't care about being truthful because he is too busy
presenting an argument. Such a mindset is a dangerous one for a
journalist to have. He seems to be determined to prove that there exists an anti-Christian bias in this country (particularly coming from the lgbt community) whether or not such a bias exists.

And it is something for the lgbt community to remember and remind people of because if we should eventually win marriage equality in all 50 states, Starnes's articles and columns, no matter how sloppy and embellished, will play a huge part in the religious right's argument of anti-Christian suppression.

Friday, February 20, 2015

An excellent publication, The New Civil Rights Movement which is run by a good colleague of mine (David Badash), pointed something out which I want to piggyback on because I want to make as much people as possible know this:

"Barronelle Stutzman is now going to lose her business, her life
savings, and possibly her own home for putting her faith into practice,"
Fox News' Erick Erickson claimed, incorrectly, yesterday.

Stutzman "stands to lose her business, her home, and her personal savings," a CNN op-ed today wrongly claimed.

Benton County Superior Court Judge Alexander C. Ekstrom found
that the florist (Stutzman) violated consumer protections when she wouldn't sell
flowers for the same-sex wedding of a longtime customer because of her
religious beliefs. The couple was protected by the Washington Law Against Discrimination, which prohibits bias based on sexual orientation, the court ruled.

Since that time religious right and conservative outlets have been pushing the idea that Stutzman is in danger of losing her home and business. To them, she has become the face of their argument for so-called "religious liberty," or the idea using religious beliefs as an excuse for businesses to discriminate mainly against lgbts. As you read above, they have been emphasizing the idea that Stutzman could lose her home, life savings, and business. Even the American Family Association sent the following out:

But the notion that Stutzman could lose her home, life savings, etc for supposedly "opposing gay marriage" is a deliberate stretching of the truth.

Fox's Erick Erickson: The Only Line Between "Gay Rights Extremists" And "Islamic Extremists" Is "Death" - Which really makes no sense at all, but then again Erick Erickson DOES work at Fox News. One thing he said irritates the heck out of me. It always drives me crazy when folks like Erickson categorize their attempts to stomp on lgbt equality as a "mere disagreement with homosexuality." We're not talking about a "mere disagreement" here but actions (and lies told) geared to making lgbts second-class citizens. Actions usually create reactions. In other words, if you don't want lgbts to react negatively to you, stop acting negatively towards us. ESPECIALLY stop lying on us and then hiding behind your religious beliefs.

Pretty soon, folks are going to start asking how does Fox News personality Todd Starnes stay employed. According to Media Matters, he got caught pushing yet another false story of anti-Christian persecution:

In a February 9 opinion piece for FoxNews.com, Fox News' serial misinformer and
mouthpiece for anti-gay hate groups Todd Starnes reported on
allegations that high school students at Acalanes High School in
Lafayette, California, were "bullied" by the school's Queer Straight
Alliance during a class presentation. His report drew heavily from a press release by the Pacific Justice Institute (PJI), an anti-LGBT hate group with a history of fabricating horror stories to combat efforts
to make schools welcoming for LGBT students. Starnes concluded his
report by asking, "Has it really come to this, America -- forcing
students to declare their allegiance to the LGBT agenda?"

The story spread across right-wing media, being featured on Breitbart, WND, MRCTV, and a number of smaller conservative outlets, as well as being shared thousands of times over social media.

The problem was that neither Starnes, nor any of the conservative outlets for that matter, did any further investigation or even waited for the district investigation before raising hell. If they had, this is what they would have found:

. . . in an email to Equality Matters, Acalanes High School District
Superintendent John Nickerson thoroughly debunked the claims made by
Starnes and PJI (emphasis added):

An examination of the program and classroom environment would
suggest gross inaccuracies in the Pacific Justice Institute press
release. It is not clear what other primary source Fox News used for
their reporting, but their "opinion" piece on the program does not
reflect what actually took place. Did not happen [quoted directly
from PJI's press release]: ridiculed and humiliated / intimidation and
interrogation / also had students line up. The peer led classroom
activity was a carried out in a respectful environment and under the
supervision of the classroom teacher. The activity focused on tolerance
and acceptance, with an emphasis on anti-queer harassment and
homophobia. It was intended to help students better understand the LGBTQ
student experience. The program is in its 15th year at Acalanes High School and his been a model program and replicated throughout the region.

Media Matters also points out that Starnes and Fox News in particular shouldn't have relied solely on PJI for the story because the organization duped them before:

This is the second time Fox
News and other conservative outlets have been duped by the Pacific
Justice Institute. In 2013, PJI was caught promoting a fabricated story
about a transgender student in Colorado harassing girls in the school
bathroom - a claim that was also debunked by that school's
superintendent. Starnes contacted Nickerson for his own piece, and Starnes
quoted Nickerson as writing that the school was aware of the "concerns
and allegations raised by two parents and the Pacific Justice Institute"
and that it was "investigating the situation."

But rather than waiting for the investigation to be completed,
Starnes uncritically parroted PJI's allegations.

Starnes is swiftly getting a reputation by some as an activist exposing anti-Christian persecution. However to many others, he is actually a sloppy reporter who allows his personal views to cloud his judgement when writing his pieces.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

At times, the cause of lgbt equality is helped by the badly planned attempts to squash it. Just like the much maligned Regnerus study a few years ago, a recent "study," which is the newest attempt by the anti-gay right to prove that same-sex households are bad for children, is catching much criticism for its numerous flaws. Below is just a snippet of how the The Atlantic magazine totally wrecked it:

This is not a new argument. Especially in the past decade, as gay
marriage has been legally recognized in many states, a small number of
scholars have claimed that kids of same-sex parents are exposed to more
potential harms than kids of straight parents. This, in turn, has been
used to argue against gay adoption and marriage. But just because some studies support this finding doesn't mean it's
true. In fact, many, many more studies reached opposite conclusions. "Research ... has developed a scholarly consensus that shows that
children raised by same-sex couples are at no important disadvantage,"
wrote Stanford University sociologist Michael Rosenfeld in an email.
"There is a noisy fringe of academics who claim that children raised by
same-sex couples are in disastrous peril," a viewpoint which "has little
or no credibility within academia."

. . . From an academic perspective, there are a number of flaws in the
design of Sullins's research. To his credit, he used a large sample of
data compiled by the CDC to test his hypothesis, looking at kids who
were living with same-sex parents at the time of various surveys taken
between 1997 and 2013. But "what Sullins's paper does not show is
that these children were actually raised by the same-sex couple," wrote
Rosenfeld in an email.

Reading the paper, it's impossible to say whether the kids in
question spent most of their lives with heterosexual parents who then
got divorced, for example, or a single parent who had multiple partners
over time. This family history matters: "We have decades of research
showing that family instability and divorce takes a toll on children,"
Rosenfeld wrote. Because of this constraint, he said, the paper cannot
speak to the way being raised by same-sex parents affects the well-being
of children. In an email, Sullins disputed this criticism, pointing to otherwidely accepted studies on emotional well-being and family structure that rely on the same data.

Doctor refuses treatment of same-sex couple's baby - The florist in the above brief is not the victim here. This family is. What the doctor did was perfectly legal in that state, but mess like this is what these so-called "religious liberty" bills could lead to in other places. Is this sort of thing right or Christian? Some on the right whine that "you will be made to care" about marriage equality. In cases like this involving children, you had better damn well care.

How the media should educate the public on transgender health issues, to me, is simply a matter of kindness and common sense. It shouldn't require a video of "do's and don'ts." However, because of Fox News, education of how transgender health issues should be handled in the media is very important.

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

This was heavily on my mind today. One thing I DESPISE is when anti-gay groups and spokespeople speak as if they are the only Christians in the world and their interpretation of the Bible is the only one that matters.

However, the thing I DESPISE MORE when members of the lgbt community take the bait and begin disparaging Christianity as a whole. When some of us do that, we make a huge mistake.

We fall into the cog the anti-gay industry wants to us placed. They portray us as enemies of Christianity when such is not true. They push the idea that attaining lgbt equality is somehow detrimental to the survival of Christianity and this is an even uglier lie.

I don't believe that God thinks that homosexuality is a sin. And I think there is more to the situation than those verses in the Bible that supposedly call out homosexuality. I think the situation is a matter of people reading verses and assuming they know what's going on WITHOUT praying to God for guidance and understanding. That's if they read the verses at all.

Instead of yielding the point to the anti-gay industry, we need to challenge them more on the idea and notion that they own Christianity and their beliefs regarding the Bible are the only ones that matter.

And we should do this also in support of our lgbt brothers and sisters who are Christian. When we take the bait and associate Christianity with people and groups like the Family Research Council, the American Family Association, Bryan Fischer, Linda Harvey, Todd Starnes, etc., we surrender our minds to ignorance and allow them to have something that does NOT belong to them, i.e the belief that they sit on the right hand of God. I think the video below articulates the point better than I can:

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Right Wing Watch has another trailer from the upcoming anti-gay documentary featuring possible GOP presidential candidates and members of Congress:

Radical Religious Right activist Janet Porter has released yet another trailer for her upcoming documentary "Light Wins: How To Overcome The Criminalization Of Christianity," which features a who's who of anti-gay activists as well as several Republican members of Congress and presidential hopefuls Rand Paul and Mike Huckabee.
"Like a tank in Tiananmen Square," Porter says, as she walks down the middle of a dark street as a pair of headlights bear down upon her, "the homosexual agenda has been running over people since Anita Bryant's courageous stand in the 1970s."
After that, it is nothing but 10 minutes of anti-gay activists calling upon Christians to rise up and fight back against the "homosexual agenda."
Among the participants we immediately recognized in this new clip are Huckabee, David Barton, Gary Glenn, Steven Hotze, Robert Knight, Judith Reisman, Stacy Swimp, Greg Quinlan, Rep. Louie Gohmert, Brian Camenker, James Dobson, Bill Donohue, Scott Lively, Frank Pavone, Dutch Sheets, Phyllis Schlafly, Rick Scarborough, Gary Bauer, Mark Crutcher, Jerry Boykin, and Harry Jackson.

If you don't want see the trailer, I personally understand. All of that homophobia is enough to make anyone sick.

However, the video below is a must view, particularly by those who don't know who Janet Porter is. I could say a lot of things about her, but I think this video of her praying for control of the American media does a better job than describing Porter than I ever could.

After viewing it, remember that she actually got possible GOP presidential candidates and Congressional leaders to appear in her video.

Spooky, isn't it? It makes you wonder just who is being unreasonably aggressive. The lgbt community or Porter and her supporters?

Top Catholics and evangelicals: Gay marriage worse than divorce or cohabitation - And speaking of which, here are a few details about the above item. The "usual folks" are involved - i.e. Maggie Gallagher, Robert George, Rick Warren are amongst the 50 signers. It will be published in the conservative First Things magazine in March. Some have said it reads like a "declaration of war," but it's really a big whine about how folks who oppose marriage equality will be "persecuted" (after years of falsely defining lgbts as family destroyers, stealers of children, and attempting to destroy Christianity). It implies actions of civil disobedience kinda like an ant plays around with a drop dribbling from a very cold glass of water. We all know these folks wouldn't dare engage in civil disobedience. They'd miss out on their salaries. One interesting thing though - supposedly it is an alliance of conservative Catholics and evangelical Protestants. Catholics and Protestants together? If history is indication of what may happen next . . . . well I will be nice.

On Friday, the Arkansas House of Representatives voted 57-20 in favor
of a bill that would bar cities and counties from sanctioning LGBT
anti-discrimination laws.

Arkansas state Sen. Bart Hester (R), who sponsored the bill, told BuzzFeed News
that creating uniform policies across the state will attract businesses
and that he was angered by one city’s repeated attempts to expand
rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals.

. . . Hester told BuzzFeed News that it isn't just LGBT individuals who are
singled out for discrimination. “I am singled out as a politician. I am
singled out because I am married to one woman … I want everyone in the
LGBT community to have the same rights I do. I do not want them to have
special rights that I do not have.”

The bill's stated goal
is to improve intrastate commerce by making it illegal for state
businesses, organizations or employers to implement or enforce policies
outlawing discrimination on grounds not covered in state law. Currently,
Arkansas does not have LGBT protections at the state level.

The bill, SB202, had already cleared the state senate the preceding Monday. Gov. Asa Hutchinson has told several news sources that he would not sign the bill but allow it to become law by not vetoing it.

Rep. Clarke Tucker, a Democrat, blasted the bill as a “proactive act of discrimination.”
Tucker
also challenged the premise that it was good for business, pointing out
that the vast majority of Fortune 500 companies protect LGBT employees
and may avoid moving their businesses to Arkansas. “If we pass
this legislation,” Tucker warned lawmakers, “we will be sending a
message that we are out of step with corporate culture today in 2015.”

According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the legislation presents a huge problem in how it was written. According to the International Business Times:

Since the bill doesn’t explicitly single out LGBT people, groups like
students and veterans may also be set up for discrimination in Arkansas,
according to Holly Dickson, the American Civil Liberties Union of
Arkansas’ legal director. “In targeting LGBT people, they have cast a
wide net and prevented protections for a wide variety of groups,” she
said.

However, organizations who have made opposition to lgbt equality their goal disagree with Dickson. In an email sent on Monday, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said:

Under a handful of ordinances around the country, local governments
have used these proposals as an excuse to trample Americans' freedom of
belief -- and punish small business owners like cake makers who morally
object to participating in same-sex "weddings." In other places, the
measures have become a privacy and safety nightmare for parents, who
shudder to think of their daughters sharing public restrooms, showers,
and locker rooms with grown men who abuse the "gender identity" language
to prey on the opposite sex.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) has already said that he'll let the bill
become law, which gives conservatives -- not just a victory, but a
roadmap for other states to do the same. Our hats go off to Arkansas
leaders for paving the way in the fight to uphold the freedom of every American, regardless of their religious views.

I can speak out against discrimination and ask Governor Asa Hutchinson to
veto SB202 on the grounds that it only serves to discriminate and
divide Arkansas. I can encourage the people of Arkansas to contact Governor Hutchinson to
work toward a better solution. If the goal is, as Bart Hester suggests,
“to create consistent policies across Arkansas that will attract
business” then show real leadership and veto this bill and work together
with my brother to create a bill that protects all workers from
discrimination in the workplace which will attract new workers and new
companies, instead of repel them.

I can also hope that Charlie understands that the decisions he makes
and the votes he takes are not just political, they are personal and
they affect people in ways he couldn’t possible imagine because he’s
never had to deal with the oppression of a society that treats you
differently because of who you are attracted to and who you love.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

After pussyfooting around the point during a disastrous interview last week with CNN's Chris Cuomo, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore today confirmed on Fox News something that we already knew he would do should SCOTUS rule in favor of marriage equality later this year.

He would attempt to stand against the ruling.But he continues to be deliberately vague on his course of action.

Alabama Chief Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore on Sunday insisted that
he had a moral duty to defy the United States Supreme Court if they
tried to change God’s “organic law” by declaring that LGBT people had an
equal right to marriage.

Moore told Fox News host Chris Wallace that if the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled that LGBT had equal marriage rights then he “would not be bound
thereby.”

“I could recuse or dissent as a justice from Delaware did in the Dred
Scott case [affirming slavery] in 1857,” the Alabama chief justice
insisted. “They ruled black people were property. Should a court today
obey such a ruling that is completely contradictory of the
Constitution?”

. . . When federal courts start changing our Constitution by defining
words that are not even there, like marriage, they’re going to do the
same thing with family in the future,” Moore argued. “When a word is not
in the Constitution, clearly, the powers of the Supreme Court do not
allow them to re-define words and seize power. The power is not
delegated to the United States by the Constitution nor prohibited by it
to the states or reserved to the states respectively or to the people.”

“This power over marriage, which came from God under our organic law,
is not to be redefined by the United States Supreme Court or any
federal court,” he concluded.

Earlier this year, Moore caused chaos when he ordered that probate judges not issue same-sex marriage licenses even after
U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade struck down the state law against marriage equality. Judge Granade had to clarify and demand that her ruling be followed.

My thoughts is that Moore, even as Wallace noticed, was being deliberately obtuse as to what his actions would be should SCOTUS rule in favor of marriage equality. The lgbt community would need to keep one eye open for him and lobby for the utmost penalties should Moore decide that his personal opinion and religious beliefs are above the law.

Benham Brothers: Satan Behind Homosexuality, Gay Marriage - You all can believe what you want, but I personally think that the board of HGTV sends up silent "thank yous" to the lgbt community for warning them about these guys and thus keeping them from being offered a show on its network.

In the middle part of the last decade, Columbia’s Alvin McEwen was in
the process of writing a book. He’d wanted to track the actions and
movements of the anti-LGBT religious right and document them. The book
publishing was slow, and a friend, he said, suggested he start a blog.
And so, his blog, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, launched in 2006.

“I was looking at how anti-gay groups distorted information,” McEwen
explains. “Looking at their tactics and their history of cherry-picking
science and relying on junk science.”

He soon attracted attention and support from gay blogosphere powerhouses Jeremy Hooper of GoodAsYou.org and Pam Spaulding of the now-retired Pam’s House Blend.

. . . McEwen believes — and has often been able to prove or link together —
deliberate attempts by rightwing groups to twist facts, mischaracterize
scientific studies and malign LGBT people in the process.

“They say they are standing on God’s principles and God’s law,” he
said. “Okay, if you’re doing that, why do you have to lie? Why do you
have to do all these other things?”

Check out the rest here. I think the author and the publication did a wonderful job.

It's a good day to be gay, particularly in Alabama. Not only did Chief Justice Roy Moore get verbally ripped from one end to another during a CNN interview with Chris Cuomo, but less than an hour ago, a federal judge ordered the probate judge in Mobile, AL to begin issuing same-sex marriage licenses:

A federal judge on Thursday afternoon ordered Mobile County, Alabama
to start issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, a ruling that could
pave the way for other local officials across the state to follow suit.

In an eight-page decision,
U.S. District Judge Callie V.S. Granade reiterated that the state’s ban
on same-sex marriage had been struck down and clarified that Mobile
County’s probate judge, Don Davis, had to adhere to that decision.

Shortly
afterward, the Mobile county office that issues marriage licenses
opened its windows, which had remained shuttered this week, to begin
serving all couples.

In celebration of Black History Month, the following piece I wrote and initially published by The Huffington Post is very appropriate. Throughout the piece are photos of famous lgbts of color:

As a gay African-American, I've heard the argument about how "you
can't compare the gay civil rights movement to the African-American
civil rights movement" more times than I care to count.
The
constant so-called moral outrage of some African-American heterosexuals
when the topic is mentioned has gotten me to the point where my mind
automatically tunes out the monotonous drones of how supposed sinful
homosexuals are "high jacking" the civil rights movement or how gays
"can't compare their sin with black skin."

As such, I almost missed the epiphany which occurred two weeks ago.

Nell Carter

I
was vaguely scanning comments on a conservative site by an anonymous
African-American female as she went on and on about how gays were never
subjected to slavery, segregation or declared three fifths a person.
While the logical side of my mind was gathering up the customary
argument of how wrong it was for disadvantaged people of any stripe to
play the "Oppression Olympics," the emotional side of my mind struck
immediately.

"This is the most ignorant crap I've ever heard," I
thought. "Just where in the hell does she think gay black people were
during slavery and segregation? On a spaceship orbiting the Earth? "

I
was instantly struck by oddity of what I had thought. Not that my
outrage wasn't coming from a place of truth, mind you, but how the
simple fact never entered my mind that yes, gay people were subjected
to slavery, segregation and racism because of our skin. Just as LGBT
(lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people of color exist now, we
existed back then. Then it suddenly struck me again that I've never
recalled any acknowledgement of this fact during the myriad of
discussions, I've read, listened to or seen regarding comparisons
between the gay and civil rights movements.

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Part of the mission of this blog is to provide our lgbt children with encouragement and strength as they navigate through life. With that in mind, this video courtesy of Buzzfeed of older gays giving advice is pure awesome:

Conservatives are excitedly promoting a new study that supposedly
reveals negative outcomes for the children of same-sex parents. Like the
infamously flawed Mark Regnerus study
rushed out two years ago, the new study seems timed to impact the
Supreme Court’s upcoming consideration of marriage equality for same-sex
couples. It suffers, however, from some of the same flaws and biases as
Regnerus’ study, and doesn’t actually support the argument against
marriage equality that it tries to make.

The new study comes from Donald Paul Sullins, a Catholic priest and sociology professor
at Catholic University of America. Sullins is a fellow of the Marriage
and Religion Research Institute, a project of the anti-LGBT Family
Research Council, and a Fourth Degree member of the Knights of Columbus,
which has funneled millions of dollars into fighting marriage equality over the past decade.

Those facts should destroy the study's credibility from the beginning, but in this environment of headless monsters (i.e. inaccuracies which continue to be propped up as fact no matter how many times they have been refuted), it's best that the beast, or this new so-called study, is completely refuted. And Zack does a wonderful job at pointing out its errors, including:

There is no information whether or not the same-sex couples were married,

The study has the same flaws as the infamous Regnerus study,

and lastly:

As a vehicle for opposing same-sex marriage, the study severely lacks
integrity, as its political positions don’t jibe with its data. “Biology
matters,” Regnerus asserts, and Sullins emphasizes that his study
identifies “the importance of common biological parentage for optimum
child well-being.” Nowhere, however, does Sullins or Regnerus suggest
that this has any policy implications for adoption or foster care by
different-sex couples. It might be a hard case to make given Sullins has
two adopted children of his own.

The attempt to push this flawed work underscores the simple fact that the lgbt community shouldn't take anything as a given. The feeling now is that the Supreme Court will legalize marriage equality nationwide. However, with opposition so willing to stop this from being a reality and determined to stoop to all sorts of levels of distortion, it would serve the lgbt community to not be so quick to set wedding dates and be more inclined with remaining on the lookout for more distortions, smears, and lies.

Alabama marriage equality tantrum slap in the face to all Americans - From time to time, I will include posts I've already written in the news briefs because I feel said post makes a point which should be shared as much as possible. This is such a post. We need to emphasize the following point continuously: "Exploiting your religious faith to get your way when you lose in federal court is not American."

About Me

Alvin McEwen is 46-year-old African-American gay man who resides in Columbia, SC.
McEwen's blog, Holy Bullies and Headless Monsters, and writings have been mentioned by Americablog.com, Goodasyou.org, People for the American Way, PageOneQ.com, The Washington Post, Raw Story, The Advocate, Media Matters for America, Crooksandliars.com, Thinkprogress.org, Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish, Melissa Harris-Perry, The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell, Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Washington Blade, and Foxnews.com.
In addition, he is also a past contributor to Pam's House Blend,Justice For All, LGBTQ Nation, and Alternet.org. He is a present contributor to the Daily Kos and the Huffington Post,
He is the 2007 recipient of the Harriet Daniels Hancock Volunteer of the Year Award and the 2010 recipient of the Order of the Pink Palmetto from the SC Pride Movement as well as the 2009 recipient of the Audre Lorde/James Baldwin Civil Rights Activist Award from SC Black Pride. In addition, he is a three-time nominee of the Ed Madden Media Advocacy Award from SC Pride.